Virtual Reality brings a whole new level of involvement in the field of education. Although VR started off as a way to make gaming more fun, the technology has improved so much that it has found hundreds of different applications in everyday life.

In the field of education, VR has made some spectacular progress. Institutes of higher education have implemented VR into their tools of training since last few years. For example, Medical training institutions have been using VR to help trainee surgeons cut open simulated patients to practice their skills.

In the last one year, competition has risen sharply in the VR headset market, driving the price down. This has allowed even schools to think of using the new technology in their training methodology.

Here are some ways in which VR is already being used in education.

VR field trips

VR technology is being used to take students on a virtual field trip. For example, students learning about seasons can now take a walk through different seasons, visit different countries during the same month and see how season vary across the globe. VR could also be used in history classes to show how the Renaissance period has been preserved even today in parts of Europe. Using Google Expedition, you can take students to different countries and even planets to discover how it looks, all of this while sitting in their classroom, in an immersive environment.

Skill training

VR simulations can be a great way to learn a new skill. Airforces around the world have been using VR to help train novice pilots. VR can help people practise a skill in a simulated environment, thereby helping build their performance before using them in the real world. In one experiment, they gave two groups of students the task of learning a new skill. One group got Google cardboard and could use VR to train themselves while the other just watched some video tutorials. The group that got VR help scored a lot higher than the one who only watched the video.

Engineering training

For Design and Architecture students, VR is a big boon. They can now use the computer generated 3D model and use the VR headsets to bring them to life, notice the impact of design and even improve on them if necessary. Instead of spending days on a physical model, students now get more time to design things faster and validate them.